The Acting Managing Director, Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), Mr Matthew Pwajok has called for the implementation of the Safety Management System (SMS) to reduce aircraft crashes in the country.
Pwajok made the call in Abuja when he featured on the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Forum.
He said safety policy should be in line with the regional policy, adding that it should be the number one priority in aviation sector.
”Every organisation must have a safety policy. Our focus in safety policy nationally is in line with the regional policy.
“ We have the Abuja Safety Target; the Ministers of Aviation and Transportation met in July 2012 in Abuja and developed the strategic safety targets that are to be implemented by all countries in Africa.
“ And one of the key targets there is that all states in Africa should work towards reducing accident, fatal aircraft accident by 50 per cent.
“ And those accidents include the ones caused by runway incursions, runway confusion, runway excursion, loss of control in flight and control flight into terrain. These are the global major causes of fatal accidents all over the world.
“ So that meeting in Abuja is referred to as the Abuja safety targets and the priority is to reduce fatal accident and strategic measures are inputted for countries to implement to reduce these accident,’’ he said.
He explained that the country had witnessed a major reduction of accident because of the implementing strategies.
He added that there should be a requirement to improve effective implementation of safety oversight by countries.
“ The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) that is the regulatory authority must effectively monitor airlines and service providers like NAMA, NIMET, and FAAN to ensure that we are complying.
“ They have been doing that very well. Anything that happens to an aircraft, the NCAA will go there and make sure that it is well before it is release.
` There should be commitment in safety policy which must be funded; there must be commitment by every organisation in implementing safety plan or safety policy.
“ We are required to implement the quality management, every service provider must implement Safety Management System (SMS),’’ he added.
Pwajok said that the NCAA was also required to implement the State Safety Plan (SSP), while other agencies like NAMA, NIMET, FAAN are expected to implement the SMS to ensure reduction in flight accidents.
He also added that the Quality Management System (QMS) is to be implemented to ensure that safety is maintained in line with the global requirement. (NAN)
